How is the Actinic order number made up?

[skinnybloke]

Hi - I need to export my orders via a datafeed into an external system.

The order number field on the external system only holds 8 characters. I believe that I can handle this as long as I understand the makeup of the actinic order number.

My understanding is that Actinic creates a 14 character number comprising of:

- first character of first name
- first character of surname
- last 4 characters of postcode
- 8 digit sequential number

Can anybody confirm this?
What happens if this is an international address and there is no postcode?
Are there any circumstances when the above will not apply?

[dave_finlayson]

I think your assumptions are correct but instead of working around the Actinic generated order numbers (which are WAY too long) why not amend it to your needs, see this thread:-

http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=4741

Dave

[skinnybloke]

Hi Dave - interesting thread - I will give it a go.

any ideas on these couple of questions:

What happens if this is an international address and there is no postcode?
Are there any circumstances when the above will not apply?

[Mike Hughes]

For most sites the postcode is a required field and the only option the customer has is to enter N/A or something similar.

If you really want to know what happens, why not disable it as a required field on your site and place a test order?

Mike

[fleetwood]

I'm curious as to the purpose of the Actinic order number.
Is there any way this long and rather convoluted order reference is used by the software, or is it of use to the programmers out there?
If not, why don't the order numbers follow a simple numeric pattern?
Martin

[skinnybloke]

Hi - I have managed to split the order number into an account number - the 1st 6 characters - and an order number - the last 8 numbers using the SELCECT statements LEFT(,x) and RIGHT(,x) fetaures.

It looks that if there is not a postcode then it populates this field with the last 4 characters of the County (if no county then I assume whatever field is next in line according to the wat the Actinic designers built the product)

[Darren B]

Hi

I had asked if the order number can be editable, if it used the first 4 digits of a postcode then it would be easier to trace the customers. IE ME8 0QN would be better shown as ME80 as a post office search would show that this is Gillingham in Kent instead of 80QN means absolutly nothing.

The same would apply to the states i presume, the first 4 digits of their zip code would help more than the last 4

I hope this has been added to the wish list - as the order number thing has been raised a number of times

Cheers
Darren

[Bruce]

Have asked Development to see if there is a way to get the first 4 instead of the last 4 digits of the post code. Will let you know for sure if this is wishlist or not.

Kind regards,

[Bruce]

Darren,

You will have to edit 'OrderScript.pl' and do a search for "$sPostCode = substr"

You should see a line that says on line 5928

$sPostCode = substr($sPostCode, -4, 4);

Change this to read

$sPostCode = substr($sPostCode, 0, 4);

The above will remove all but the first 4 characters from the string. Hope this helps.

Kind regards,

[Darren B]

Bruce

your a star, works a treat.

if i changed the 4 to a 5 would it take the first five digits or would i need to adjust the script in other places to make it work.

do not worry about finding a solution if it is not as simple as that what i have got is just fine

thanks for you help
Darren